CECM on the Issues

We support the expansion of public charter schools to the entire state so that families who feel their child is not excelling in the traditional district school may have alternative public options. These needs are most pressing in unaccredited and provisionally accredited schools, especially outside of St. Louis and Kansas City where no charter schools, or few income based private options, exist.  We also support expanding those allowed to sponsor a charter school and allowing virtual, online charter schools.

Read the latest Charter School Reform News.

We support legislation allowing open enrollment between school districts. This allows families to choose a neighboring district, if the district has room, if they feel it is a better educational fit for their child. The main negative response to open enrollment is that people think the districts will automatically have to accept someone wanting to come to their school, which is not true. The schools set the number of seats they have.

We support teachers being paid based on their abilities and the performance of their students. This is one key component of attracting the best and brightest our country has to offer to the profession of teaching.  Most other career professionals are paid based on how well you perform and obtaining successful outcomes, we believe that teaching should be no different.

We support reforming teacher tenure laws in the state to give teachers tenure based on performance, rather than only by years of service. The legislation currently being discussed would allow a teacher to earn tenure after three consecutive positive performance reviews. But the teacher would be removed from tenure if they received two consecutive negative reviews. This continues for the teacher’s entire career.